November, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Niarchos Family Awarded 2021 Longines and IFHA Award of Merit

The Niarchos Family was awarded the 2021 Longines and IFHA International Award of Merit at Del Mar during the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Champions on Friday, Nov. 5. Started in 2013 by Longines and the IFHA and given to horsemen and horsewomen who make lifelong contributions to Thoroughbred racing, the award was accepted by Maria Niarchos-Gouaze on behalf of her family. More than 125 Group or Grade 1 winners have been bred and/or campaigned under their banner, and they have been long-time supporters of the Breeders' Cup. Representatives from Longines, the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), the Breeders' Cup and The Jockey Club were in attendance.

“On behalf of my brothers and myself, I would like to thank Longines, the IFHA, the Breeders' Cup, and The Jockey Club for this great honour,” said Niarchos-Gouazé. “I would also like to thank all of our horses, the jockeys who mainly found the winning post, our trainers, our veterinarians and farriers, and all of the individuals who have worked on the studs and in our trainers' yards.

“In particular, I would like to thank my home team, Alan Cooper and Karen Clark, who have been with us since inception, for their dedication and loyalty, and also Jamie McCalmont and Bill Oppenheim, and those who have worked alongside them. Lastly, and the most deserving of all, I would like to thank my father, Stavros, for his vision.”

The late Stavros Niarchos, a Greek shipping magnate, first became involved with Thoroughbred racing in the 1950s. After a break, he returned in the 1970s. The 1956 Middle Park S. winner Pipe of Peace (GB) (Supreme Court {GB}) was his first major winner. Niarchos-Gouaze, his daughter, took over the Thoroughbred business upon his passing in 1996. Alan Cooper serves as the family's racing manager.

Seven Breeders' Cup races have gone to Niarchos Family colourbearers, six of them homebreds. A total of six editions of the GI Breeders' Cup Mile have been won by the family: Miesque (Kingmambo) (1987, 1988), Spinning World (Nureyev) (1997), Domedriver (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) (2002), Six Perfections (Fr) (Celtic Swing {GB}) (2003), and Karakontie (Jpn) (Bernstein) (2014). Additionally, Main Sequence (Aldebaran) won the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf in 2014.

Other notable horses to have raced for the Niarchos Family are: 2004 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Bago (Fr) (Nashwan); Classic winners Divine Proportions (Kingmambo) Light Shift (Kingmambo), Study of Man (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), and War of Will (War Front); Light Shift's son Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (2017 Eclipse S. and International S.); 2018 Irish Horse of the Year Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}); and Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (2019 St James's Palace S. and 2020 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot).

“We are delighted to celebrate tonight the Niarchos Family, whose strong commitment and dedication to Thoroughbred racing have been rewarded by so many remarkable successes over the years,” said Matthieu Baumgartner, Longines Vice President Marketing. “The history of the family proves that equestrian sport is one of passion, a passion that Longines has been sharing for a century and a half. Today, we are the partner of some of the major international institutions, including the IFHA, and provide our timekeeping expertise to prestigious events all around the world in the disciplines show jumping, dressage, eventing and of course, horse racing.”

“I would like to congratulate the Niarchos Family as this year's recipient of the Longines and IFHA International Award of Merit,” said IFHA Chair Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. “Reflecting upon the significance and the values associated with this award, I am struck by the level of success achieved by the Niarchos Family in nearly every corner of the globe, spanning multiple generations.

“On racetrack achievement alone, the Niarchos Family would be worthy recipients of this award, but their steadfast support of our industry is what sets them apart. Their unwavering partnership and development of international racing and breeding is a special feat, and it must be celebrated.”

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Mischievous Kiss Makes Bold Move To Take Chelsey Flower At Belmont

A pair of recent maiden graduates at Belmont Park stepped up in class with little trouble and finished one-two in Saturday's $100,000 Chelsey Flower for 2-year-old fillies, with the Carl Pollard homebred Mischievous Kiss coming out on top over Caironi by a half length in the 1 1/16-mile event on the Widener turf course at the Elmont, N.Y., track.

Having both broke their maidens on October 2 over this same Widener course going seven furlongs, Mischievous Kiss and Caironi were overshadowed in the betting by another impressive Belmont maiden winner in Shad Nation. But the exacta proved too much for the rest of the field, as the runner-up finished 4 1/2 lengths clear of third-place finisher Kneesnhips.

In addition to their nearly identical profiles entering the race, Mischievous Kiss [trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott] and Caironi got similar trips from off the pace, which proved to be the place to be as longshots Lady Milagro and Evangeline Allons tussled through solid early splits of :23.40 for the opening quarter-mile, :46.91 for the half, and 1:11.27 for three-quarters over firm going, with Misthaven perched just to their outside.

Mischievous Kiss, ridden by Eric Cancel, was the first to make a move into the teeth of that swift pace, launching a bold and ultimately winning rally leaving the far turn. Caironi and jockey Kendrick Carmouche followed their lead, but Mischievous Kiss gained enough separation in the stretch, forcing Carioni to settle for second while completing the course in a 1:42.89 final time.

“Eric gave her a great trip,” said Leana Willaford, assistant to Mott. “The horses we figured to show some early speed did just that. He let her relax and get into stride, and when he asked her, she was there for him. The longer she's been around, the more maturity she's shown, and she handled things real well today.”

The victory marked Mischievous Kiss' second from just three career starts, while the Mike Miceli-trained Caironi was making only her second start. The winner, by Into Mischief out of a Kris S. dam, returned $16.20 on a $2 win wager. Her career earnings now stand at $116,500.

“Her next step is between Mr. Pollard and Bill,” Willaford added. “She'll probably head to Florida with no more turf racing [in New York].”

Following Caironi in second was Kneesnhips, who finished two lengths ahead of fourth-place finisher Ouraika. Shad Nation, Misthaven, Philly Eagles, Evangeline Allons, and Lady Milagro completed the order of finish.

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Live racing resumes Sunday with Closing Day of the Belmont fall meet. The 10-race card, which features an 11:50 a.m. first post, will feature a pair of stakes in the $150,000 Zagora for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going 1 1/2 miles on the turf in Race 4 at 1:18 p.m. and the Grade 3, $150,000 Nashua for 2-year-olds in a one-turn mile on the main track in Race 9 at 3:43 p.m.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Park, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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Life is Good Never Looks Back in Dominant Dirt Mile Performance

In what might have been the easiest of victories on Saturday's championship card–or maybe he's just so good he simply made it look that way–'TDN Rising Star' and 3-5 favorite Life Is Good (Into Mischief) captured the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. The bay led every step of the way through blazing fractions straight into the winner's circle, with his only loss in six career starts a neck in arrears of GI Sprint favorite Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music).

Silver State (Hard Spun), the GI Hill 'n' Dale Met Mile hero who figured to be one the biggest nemesis for Life Is Good in the Dirt Mile, stumbled leaving the gate. Restrainedvengence (Hold Me Back) didn't break cleanly either, tossing his head and hesitating ever so briefly, but Life Is Good sailed out of his stall smoothly. Sandwiched early between Japanese runners Pingxiang (Speightstown) and Jasper Prince (Violence), he cleared the field into the first turn, blazing through splits of :21.88, :44.94, and 1:08.76. All the while, Life Is Good looked to be doing it easy with rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. sitting almost motionless. Horse for the course Ginobili (Munnings) chased him on the turn, but Life Is Good was just too good. Ortiz shook him up slightly, throwing a few crosses and shaking the whip at him before keeping his mind on business with one right-handed tap of the crop, and the pair coasted under the wire as much-the-best 5 3/4-length victors. They covered the two-turn mile in 1:34.12. Ginobili and Restrainedvengence rounded out the trifecta.

“I had a perfect trip,” said Ortiz, Jr. “He broke out of there running, he relaxed for me. I wasn't worried about those other runners early in the race, because I knew he was so fast. When we got to the quarter pole, he re-broke for me. What a nice horse to ride.”

Life Is Good's Dirt Mile was the 14th Breeders' Cup win for Ortiz and the 12th for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Both had previously won the Dirt Mile, Ortiz in 2019 with Spun to Run (Hard Spun) and Pletcher with Liam's Map (Unbridled's Song) in 2015.

“We were hoping for that, expecting that based on the way that he's been training, but it's always great to see it actually happen,” said Pletcher. “He took it to them. Just too much horse.”

Continued Pletcher, “We were anticipating a good performance or an exceptional performance, just it's rare that you have a horse train as well as this horse does and breeze as impressively as he does and do everything as effortlessly and easily as he is capable of. So we were hoping for a big effort. We felt like he was sitting on a big effort and then you just hope everything goes smoothly with the ship and settling in in new surroundings and get a clean break and all the classic things that you need to go right for him to show his talent.”

Life Is Good has necessitated patience throughout his career, but how beautifully it has paid off for his connections. The 3-year-old–the only sophomore in the Dirt Mile field–debuted Nov. 22 over this track last year for trainer Bob Baffert shortly after the barn's GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner and eventual Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief) was retired to stud. Life Is Good quickly stepped in with the expectation of filling Authentic's shoes, crushing his debut 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight field by 9 1/2 lengths, earning his 'Rising Star' designation, and quickly setting tongues wagging regarding his GI Kentucky Derby chances. His next two starts, the Jan. 2 GIII Sham S. and the Mar. 6 GII San Felipe S., with 101 and 107 Beyers, respectively, did nothing to discourage the Derby talk. Before the last round of major preps, he was tied on the Derby leaderboard with 60 qualifying points and had beaten then-stablemate and eventual Derby first-place finisher Medina Spirit (Protonico) in both the Sham and San Felipe. Life was good in the Life Is Good camp.

Then, as has been well documented, much went awry. Life Is Good came out of a 1:11 2/5 six-panel work (1/6) at Santa Anita Mar. 20 with a slight injury to a hind leg. Baffert declared him off the Derby trail and said he'd get at least 60 days off while undergoing a medical evaluation. An ankle chip was discovered and surgery to remove it followed. Baffert won the Derby with Medina Spirit only to be on the brink of losing it due to a betamethasone positive. A slew of racetrack bans for Baffert followed. Life Is Good returned to the races just over five months after that Santa Anita work, but not to Baffert's barn.

When Life Is Good returned to the entry box, it was for Pletcher, this time on the East Coast. Pletcher knew what he had in Life Is Good and brought the then-unbeaten colt back in an extremely ambitious spot few others would have dared to enter off such a layoff, the Aug. 28 GI H. Allen Jerkens S. at Saratoga. In an extremely game effort, Life Is Good got run down by a neck to Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) in what remains his only career defeat. The Sept. 25 GII Kelso H. at the same distance as the Dirt Mile followed with Life Is Good running like the 1-20 choice he was, giving the impression of a public workout or at least a Sunday stroll.

“He's one of [the] classic rare horses that you could consider three different races on the card,” said Pletcher after the Dirt Mile. “Who knows, he might even grass on top of that. But he's just, he's super fast, but what we have seen from him in his training is he has the ability to go fast and keep going and I think that's what everyone was able to see today.”

WinStar president and CEO Elliott Walden, representing co-owners WinStar and CHC Inc., indicated after the race that Life Is Good is expected to have a 2022 campaign.

Pedigree Notes:
In what is becoming a familiar refrain, Spendthrift Farm's super-sire Into Mischief is the sire of the winner. Life Is Good's Dirt Mile is the sixth Breeders' Cup win for the son of Harlan's Holiday, follwing Goldencents in back-to-back Dirt Miles in 2013-14, Covfefe in the 2019 Filly & Mare Sprint, Gamine in the 2020 Filly & Mare Sprint, and Authentic in last year's Classic. Breeders' Cup success aside, from 10 crops of racing age, Into Mischief has 102 Northern Hemisphere-bred black-type winners, 44 of which are graded winners.

Recently pensioned Distorted Humor is the broodmare sire of Life Is Good, with black-type winners out of his daughters numbering 115. When his daughters have been matched with Into Mischief, they've come up with not only Life Is Good, but also MGISW and current third-leading freshman sire Practical Joke, 2021 MGSW Fulsome, and three other stakes winners.

Life Is Good, who was a $525,000 Keeneland September yearling, is Beach Walk's second foal. Her yearling filly is by Blame, her 2021 colt is by Candy Ride (Arg), and she was bred back to Into Mischief. Her dam is SW Bonnie Blue Flag (Mineshaft), who placed in both the 2010 GI Test S. and GI Prioress S. Bonnie Blue Flag is a half to MGISW Diamondrella (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}). She sold at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky sale for $1.5 million, but reappeared at the 2019 Keeneland November sale for just $15,000.

Saturday, Del Mar
BIG ASS FANS BREEDERS' CUP DIRT MILE-GI, $900,000, Del Mar, 11-6, 3yo/up, 1m, 1:34.12, ft.
1–LIFE IS GOOD, 123, c, 3, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Beach Walk, by Distorted Humor
2nd Dam: Bonnie Blue Flag, by Mineshaft
3rd Dam: Tap Your Feet, by Dixieland Band
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($525,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-CHC Inc. and
WinStar Farm LLC; B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. (KY);
T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $520,000. Lifetime Record:
6-5-1-0, $1,059,200. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Ginobili, 126, g, 4, Munnings–Find the Humor, by Sharp
Humor. ($35,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-Slam Dunk Racing, Richard
Baltas, Jerry McClanahan and Michael Nentwig; B-Hinkle
Farms (KY); T-Richard Baltas. $170,000.
3–Restrainedvengence, 126, g, 6, Hold Me Back–
Cupids Revenge, by Red Ransom. ($67,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP).
O-Kelly Brinkerhoff and Bob Grayson, Jr.; B-Westwind Farms
(KY); T-Val Brinkerhoff. $90,000.
Margins: 5 3/4, 3/4, NK. Odds: 0.70, 4.40, 40.60.
Also Ran: Eight Rings, Silver State, Snapper Sinclair, Pingxiang, Jasper Prince.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Golden Pal Out Of Gate Like A Rocket, Runs Away With Turf Sprint

Many top trainers know that the break is everything in a sprint race, and Golden Pal provided a textbook example in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, taking the lead and never looking back for conditioner Wesley Ward.

Golden Pal and Irad Ortiz Jr. rocketed out of the third starting gate so quickly, television commentators watched the replay to verify his gate had indeed not opened before his competitors'. After a sharp break, Golden Pal kept clear of the rest of the field throughout the five-furlong race and drew away by 1 1/4 lengths from a valiant closing effort by Lieutenant Dan in the stretch. Lieutenant Dan and Frankie Dettori had given chase to the blistering early pace of :21.71 and :43.34. The final time was :54.75, equalling a course record set by Fast Parade on Aug. 16, 2006.

Golden Pal was the 5-2 favorite in the race, and paid $7.00, $4.60, and $3.60. Lieutenant Dan settled for second, while Charmaine's Mia was third.

Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith, et al own the 3-year-old son of Uncle Mo, who was bred in Florida by Randall E. Lowe. Golden Pal is out of Midshipman mare Lady Shipman. He was an RNA at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $325,000, where he was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

Golden Pal was the winner of last year's G2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and came to this race off a win in the G2 Woodford on Oct. 9 at Keeneland. He also picked up a win in the G3 Quick Call.

Golden Pal's connections confirmed to media he will likely stay in training next year, with 2022 goals to be determined.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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